


Marked

by gleeksfreaksandwannabes



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: I don't know what this is TBH, Jalec Friendship, Other, Pre-Canon, baby jalec, someone's getting a crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-23
Updated: 2016-11-23
Packaged: 2018-09-01 14:38:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8628340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gleeksfreaksandwannabes/pseuds/gleeksfreaksandwannabes
Summary: Alec Lightwood wasn't afraid of getting his first mark, he really wasn't, but if it just so happened that he was a little bit afraid on the inside, he was glad he had Jace beside him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So I have a bunch of Jalec feels fight now, not in the romantic way, just like the Alec crushing on Jace kind of way, and I just remembered I wrote this cute little pre-books/pre-show story, so I thought I'd share it with you all!
> 
> This might not be 100% correct, as I've said I haven't been in this world for a while, so if I get something wrong, please be nice about it!
> 
> This is dedicated to [Aylene](http://deadspacedame.tumblr.com), because I know this will make her die of Jalec feels :)
> 
> As always, my tumblr is [here,](http://gleeksfreaksandwannabes.tumblr.com) come bother me!!

Alec Lightwood hurried to keep up with his parents as they strode down the paved road, overgrown with straggling greenery and uneven to walk on; he was tall for a twelve year old, and had long legs, but his parents seemed to be in some kind of hurry. Words swum around in his head as he side stepped large stone that was lifted slightly out of place on the path; runes... the sight... silent brothers... demons...

Alec skidded to the side a little as something rustled beside him, turning his glare on it to prove that he was NOT scared, and found Jace grinning at him as he kicked again the weeds that were tangled across their path. Alec shot him a look and rolled his eyes; the boy had been with them for all of a month, and he was already starting to get on Alec's nerves. There was something about that smirk, that arrogance, something Alec would never have, that bothered him immensely,

"Knock it off!" Alec hissed, but Jace simply chuckled, earning himself a glare from his new brother.

"Alec, hurry up!" his father shot at him, earning a reproachful look from his mother,

"Robert, he's still a child!"

"He's a shadowhunter, Maryse," Robert corrected her "he's going to have to learn to follow orders. I was marked when I was ten, so was Jace, Alec needs to grow up!" his father's words had hurt right in his chest, and Alec dropped his eyes to the ground and quickened his pace, ignoring Jace's outstretched hand as he caught up to his parents.

They had arrived at the Silent City as night fell, and as Alec looked up a chill went through his bones, and it was not from the cold of dusk; the entrance to the Silent City was like a cave, guarded with what looked like a skeleton carved from stone, wearing carved robes and a hood covering it's darkness of a face. The figures arms were crossed over its chest, a sword in each hand, and Alec felt his eyes stinging from staring up at the darkness where it's face had been for so long.

"This place is creepier than I remember," Jace said, shoving a reluctant Alec forward.

"You've been here before?"

"Yeah, I got marked when I was ten," he showed Alec the back of his left hand, where an eye-like wound was etched into his skin, as if it had been carved there with a knife. Alec felt sick,

"They're gonna do that to me?" Jace nodded,

"It's what we need to be a shadowhunter," he explained as if he knew everything. He knew more than Alec did, at least...

"Alexander Lightwood," a booming voice rung in Alec's-- was it in his head? Nobody else seemed to be concerned. He looked up to see that they were inside the cave; it's walls were eerily moist, the light from flaming torches dancing off them and catching-- Alec felt a sudden sense of cold rush over him -- the shadows of bones that sat around the edges on the ground. He looked around to find the source of the voice, seeing a figure similar to the stone one guarding the entrance to the cave, it's head covered by a heavy cloak the color of old parchment and it's face nothing but a shadow.

"You have entered the City Of Bones to be marked with the voyance rune, this rune will grant you the Sight as you begin your training as a shadowhunter." Alec looked anxiously to his parents as the figure began to walk away from them, and his father nodded curtly, indicating his son to follow. 

The figure lead them down flight after flight of stone steps until Alec felt he might pass out - from lack of fresh air or fear, he wasn't sure - and he sucked in a calming breath of the clammy air to calm himself as they reached a cavern with a long table at one end. The figure stood in front of the table, in line with four others who looked the same, facing Alec, who anxiously looked from his parents to Jace as the central figure indicated for him to stand before them,

"It's alright," Maryse gently encouraged her son "go," and Alec did, but not before shooting a look of fear in Jace's direction. Almost as if he hadn't thought about it, Jace stepped forward to stand beside Alec, offering him a grim smile of encouragement, and Alec felt his stomach untwist slightly.

"Alexander Lightwood," came the booming voice again "extend your dominant hand so that you can be marked with the Sight," Alec did so, doing his best to keep his hand from shaking as the figure removed it's hood. 

Alec dropped his hand and let out a cry of shock; the figure's face was deathly pale as its hands, it's skin tight on its bald head, wrinkled and covered with strange markings in the same coloring as the one on Jace's hand. It's eyes, or what should have been its eyes, were shut, sewn with thick black stitching that matched that which was closing its gash of a mouth. Alec felt a hand close around his left one now, and looked over to see that Jace was giving him the same encouraging smile,

"It's okay," he said, ignoring Robert's obviously displeased look "they freak me out too," Alec offered him a small grin, which he gladly returned, causing the taller boy's heart to flop in his chest slightly. Ignoring the sensation, he turned back to the figure determinedly, raising his right hand, palm down.

"It's gonna hurt," Jace said in his ear "you can keep hold of my hand if you want," Alec knew he shouldn't, he was twelve years old, for goodness' sake, but something in the gesture and the smile Jace offered him - and the flopping sensation in his chest - told him if didn't matter, and he held on, appreciating the reassuring grip Jace kept on his hand.

The figure drew a silver pen-like object from his cloak then, and Alec watched as the end of it lit up; he had vaguely remembered his mother drawing sparks in the air with an object similar when he was a baby, and he had seen Jace pull his own out of his bag when he was unpacking back at the institute, so he figured it couldn't be that dangerous.

The searing pain in his hand a moment later proved him wrong; Alec let out a scream, willing to pull his hand away as a white hot line was drawn into the back of it, but the figure's skeletal hand kept a tight grip.

"It's okay!" he vaguely registered Jace speaking beside him, but the blinding pain was now spreading across his hand as the figure kept drawing, and he found himself squeezing Jace's hand as he choked back his screams and he breathed heavily.

As soon as it had come, the pain subsided into a dull ache, and Alec turned back to his hand to see that the silver stick was taken away and the figure was placing it back into his robe,

"Alexander Lightwood," it said in its booming voice "you now have the Sight, you have cemented your oath as a shadowhunter, a servant of the Angel Raziel in protecting humankind from the denizens of the devil." all of this floated around Alec's head as his vision blurred, and he blinked a few times to being the world back into focus, starting slightly when he looked to his parents and found red marks all over their skin,

"Wh-- they weren't there before!" his eyes widened as his mother approached him, putting a hand on his shoulder,

"Alec, do you remember the stories we told you about angels and shadowhunters? The books we showed you about runes?"

"Y--yeah," he dimly registered Jace letting go of his hand.

"The runes are for fighting demons," we covered them until you were ready to see them, but now you have one of your own," Alec looked down at his hand, still aching from the marking, running his finger tenderly over the red, raw image that was there, almost like a hieroglyphic eye; he had seen it in the large book his parents had given him for his tenth birthday, along with many others that made his head swim when he had read them. Now, however, as he looked up at his mother, he recognized a few of them on her arms and neck; the angelic rune, speed, strength...

"You'll start training in the morning with Jace," Robert said, patting Alec roughly on the back and indicating for his wife and children to follow as the talk cloaked figure led the way out of the twisted tunnels.

 

Alec spent the rest of the night, after answering hundreds of Isabelle's prying questions, curled rather awkwardly in his father's armchair by the fireplace, the thick book of runes balanced on the arm as he looked through it silently.

"How's your hand?" Alec looked up to see Jace standing in the doorway, wearing a pair of Alec's winter pajamas with the legs and sleeves rolled up, and he pulled his sleeves to his elbows as he entered the room.

"It's okay," Alec replied "still hurts though," Jace nodded thoughtfully, coming to a stop in front of the chair.

"Can I see?" he asked, and Alec nodded, putting his hand out and trying to ignore the zap he felt when Jace took it gently in his own, running his fingers over the skin around the raw mark "Mine was like that when I first got it, yours'll heal," he let go of Alec's hand, and the two were silent for a moment.

"It stings," Alec said, flexing his fingers and cringing at the pain.

"You'll get used to it," Jace told him "it won't hurt after a while,"

"How do you know?"

"Because you have angel blood in you, Alec," he insisted gently "you're special," 

Alec cast his eyes down to his feet as he felt a warmth rise in his cheeks, hoping Jace wouldn't see it in the dim light,

"I don't feel very special," Jace thought for a moment, his eyes sparkling as he came up with a response,

"Think of it this way, normal people would've died if they had been marked," Alec looked up in alarm "okay, maybe don't think of it that way," Jace amended, taking a breath as his eyes bore into Alec's "look Alec, you're special, you're part angel, you and I, we were both born to fight demons and protect humans, just like our ancestors did! With the right training, you're gonna be an amazing hero when you're older, we both are!" 

Alec let his eye's wander over Jace's enthused expression, allowing his imagination to conjure up an image of himself and Jace, fighting side by side, protecting innocent humans, but he dropped his gaze as his mind's eye saw Jace kill demon after demon as Alec waved his sword around aimlessly.

"Jace?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you something?" Alec asked, setting the book aside as Jace pulled up another chair and sat opposite Alec, nodding "Why did you get marked when you were ten?" Jace's mismatched eyes darkened, the brown in them almost a burnt amber in the firelight,

"My dad wanted me to prepared, to have as much training as I could, so that I could be the best." he didn't say anymore, and Alec didn't press him, so they just sat in silence, the crackling of the fire the only noise until Alec spoke again,

"Thanks," he said awkwardly "for today," he didn't need to say anymore, Jace understood. He looked up through his mess of blonde hair to grin at Alec,

"No problem," he said "what are friends for?"


End file.
